The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-06-25
The ocean freight rate, alone, Is pro-
faction m pennavlyania vreafer than The on

tVo NoW CoS' VI hct PiB'uou, ouu many
times greater than any possible difference
In the labor cost of steel rails OF course,
II the labor cost Of foreign iron was moth.
ing, ocean and inland freight rates would
be absolute protection to Illinois and other
inland states, and ocean freights alone, be-
Ing greater than the difference In the labor
cost of production, are, according TO MIR.
Trimble's own showing, a greater protec-
tion than is necessary to the American iron
industry. How, then, is II possible for Mr..
Trimble TO support system that levies a
duty of AZ per cent. upon pig iron and So
per cen'. upon steel rails--a duty double
the entire labor cost of their production,
under pretense of compromising for the
difference In the scale OF foreign and do.
nestle wages9
In speaking of the labor cost of produc-
ton of iron In England and the United
States, Mr.. Joseph ID. Weeks, expert and
special agent of the 10th census, In his re-
port to MIR. Ninmo, chief of bureau of
statistics, says: awhile wages per ton in
many cases are about the same, the earn.
ings per diem are fully twice as much;
and says further that "this does not mean
day in which the American would work
as hard as he could, but per day for num-
Der of consecutive days, say for six
months; and adds, "there is no trouble
about 1t either"
Thus we see the difference In cost be-
tween foreign and domestic iron Is not the
difference in the labor cost at all, but 1t
represents the tribute levied by the vast
monopolies that own the mines and the
plants; 1t represents the contributions
forced by the tariff from the people, that
monopoly may hog its dividends and loll
in luxury under the fraudulent pretense Of
protecting the American laborer against
the pauper labor of Europe.
In the cottons industry the wages, even
of the English operative, are higher per
hour OF labor than are ours. The labor
cost in all the textiles is less in America
than in England or Europe, and 1t has been
shown that it is the Tariff alone that pre-
vents us from exporting largely of the
J manufactured product, Indeed as the tar
if on cottons is reduced, our expectation of
manufactured cottons increases; and, If the
, tariff were wiped out entirely, we would
, manufacture our cottons and then export
them, instead of exporting the raw cottons
for others to manufacture, and then, under
a 40 per cent. duty, import of those manu-,
features 29,236,O7l per annum, as we did
last year. Before the protective system
was inaugurated here, we were exporters
of manufactured cottons, and We exported
them In our own ships. Protection has
handicapped the one industry and destroy
ed the other A return to free trade would
cover the ocean again with our ships, filled
with our manufactures. to be carried to the
uttermost parts of the earth. That we ex.
, ported cotton manufactures, and paid high
wages before the protective system was in
augurated here is as certain as any other
fact in our history. will here quote but o
single authority, however. Daniel Web
, ster said, in the House of Representatives
5 in reply to Clay, and In opposition to the
first protective tariff, in 1924 Il quote from
, his speech Vol. 3, p. 1867:
} "He has demanded, if it be MT the pol
= lev of protection. aye, and prohlDltlon' al
Cd nfh
height of their prosperity, and whether any
one has succeeded with such tame and In
S ert legislation as ours? Sir, am ready &c
;. answer this inquiry. There is country
: not undistinguished among the nations, II
' which the progress of manufacture has
y been more rapid than In any other, and
0 yet, unaided by prohibition or unnatural
restrictions-that country, the happiest the
, sun shines on, Is our own. con
= slider the cotton manufactures, not only e
Il have reached, bit to hare passed beyond tn
: point Of competitiOn. | regard their sue
!. cess as certain, and their growth as rapiC
as the most impatient could well expect
They can hardly be said to have
J. commenced with any earnestness unit
J. the application of the power-loom In 1911
q about ten years ago. Now, sir, neeC
hardly speak of its progress, its present ex
tent or Its assurance of future enlargement
e In some sort of fabrics we are already eX
porters and the product of our factorie
" are at this moment in the South America
markets We see, then, what can be dom
without prohibition or ex raordinary pre-
8 lection, because we see what has beef
~ done. The wooden manufacture
. of England have existed from the earl
D. ages of the monarchy. Provisions design
er ed to aid and foster them are in the blacl
,r letter statutes of the Edwards and the Her
GO rvs. Ours on the contrary, are but OF yes
- terday; and yet with no more than tn
'e protection of existing laws, they are alread
g at the point of close and promising compe
,e tition. And labor is known to b
r higher with US than in any other civilize
- state, and this is the greatest of all proof
es of the general happiness. Labor in TIL
n, country is Independent and proud, 1t ha
W not to ask the patronage OF capital, bu
O. capital solicits the aid of labor" &c.
- Thus we see that sixty-three years ag
a the friends of commercial freedom wer
,e opposing what was then termed tn
q. american Protective System bscaus'
C. under the then low tariff, manufacture
hon n